Battle of Boyaca

The Battle of Boyaca (7 August 1819) was the decisive battle of the New Granada campaign of the South American Wars of Liberation. Simon Bolivar's republican army of 2,850 troops advanced into New Granada in 1819, supported by British volunteers and the llaneros of Jose Antonio Paez, where they met a fresh expeditionary division under the command of the young Colonel Jose Maria Barreiro. The outnumbered Spanish royalists found themselves outnumbered and outgunned, and they were forced to surrender after a costly assault on the republican forces. Barreiro and 38 other Spanish prisoners were executed on the orders of Francisco de Paula Santander, and 1,600 Spanish troops entered captivity. The battle marked the final defeat of Spanish forces in New Granada, the creation of Gran Colombia, and the weakening of all Spanish forces in the Americas.